Coach Barry Trotz ultimately scratched Burakovsky after deciding Washington was in need of a jump-start, inserting Jay Beagle into the starting lineup instead. Beagle's stint on the line was short-lived; Marcus Johansson replaced him after two shifts and a holding penalty, remaining there for the rest of Washington’s 3-2 loss.

"I think we weren't sharp at all," said Backstrom, who was held without a point after having seven in his previous four games. "It doesn't matter who plays with us, to be honest with you."

CALGARY -- The Calgary Flames have put first-year general manager Brad Treliving in a bit of a jam.

In just the second season of a full-on rebuild, the upstart Flames are pushing for a Stanley Cup Playoffs spot in the Western Conference, limiting the GM from declaring his team as full-on buyers or sellers at the NHL Trade Deadline on March 2.

"We're making up new terminology," Treliving told NHL.com. "We're in a stage here where the play of our team has put us in a position that you'd like to help. You'd like to be able to help for our stretch drive. Having said that, you also want to be careful and cautious of the type of … whether it be young players, young prospects, draft picks … that you expose in a situation like this. We're like everybody else. We're listening."

The 2015 NHL Trade Deadline is next Monday, March 2, at 3 p.m. ET, so expect the rumor mill to churn in overdrive this week as general managers work the phones to try to make one last ditch effort to improve their teams heading down the stretch in the regular season.

A year ago this week, the 2014 Sochi Olympics entered the knockout round. To celebrate, NHL.com looks at three players who used one of hockey's biggest stages to grab the spotlight and parlay their celebrity into the 2014-15 NHL season.

Today, we look at Canada goalie Carey Price, who led his team to its second straight gold medal.

It was the one position that most of the hockey world thought was a potential weakness for the powerhouse team from Canada.

When Price returned to the Montreal Canadiens a few weeks later he did so with a gold medal hanging around his neck, having been named the top goaltender of the Olympic tournament after a 3-0 shutout against Sweden in the gold-medal game, which was played one year ago Monday.

Price stopped 103 of 106 shots in five starts in Sochi and 70 of 71 shots in three elimination games, making the pretournament chatter about Canada’s goaltending seem rather silly.

"I was pretty confident in my abilities going into the tournament," Price said. "I knew the group of players I was playing behind, I knew it was going to be a really good opportunity to win. That was the mentality that I had, and all I had to do was just do my part. Fortunately for me things went well, the team played really well in front of me, and everything was done exactly as planned."

* According to the Elias Sports Bureau, at 19 years, 174 days old, MacKinnon became the third-youngest player in franchise history to record a hat trick; as a member of the Quebec Nordiques, Joe Sakic recorded hat tricks on Oct. 22, 1988 at 19 years, 107 days old in a 7-3 loss to the New York Islanders and on Nov. 11, 1988 at 19 years, 140 days old in a 5-3 win against the Montreal Canadiens.

NHL.com

Chicago recalled Darling from Rockford of the American Hockey League earlier Sunday. In a corresponding move, the Blackhawks sent down Antti Raanta, who allowed two goals on 16 shots in 27:41 after relieving starter Corey Crawford in a 6-2 loss to the Boston Bruins on Sunday.

Nordstrom, 22, has recorded two assists in 24 games with Chicago this season. The Stockholm, Sweden, native has tallied 16 points (9G, 7A) in 23 games with Rockford this year; he collected his first career hat trick and added an assist on Dec. 13 at Lake Erie. Nordstrom was the team’s third-round selection (90th overall) in the 2010 National Hockey League Draft.

"I think we all understand what he was brought here to do and that is to score big goals and that is kind of what we expect of him," captain Dustin Brown said.

After delivering on that deal throughout the Kings' triumphant march to the Stanley Cup championship by scoring 14 goals in 26 games, Gaborik did what is expected of him again, in dramatic fashion, on another one of the sport's grandest stages.

This time, Gaborik scored the game-winning goal 4:04 into the third period in the 2015 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series game at Levi's Stadium, providing the Kings with a 2-1 victory against the rival San Jose Sharks before 70,205 spectators.

"Yeah, it's definitely special," Gaborik said of his goal, which blunted the momentum of the Sharks, who were starting to dominate play after a late first-period goal tied the game. "But it definitely feels good to get the goal."

He's only 17 but he can see the ice so well and he moves the puck and goes to the open ice all the time, so I just think he's a player that is ready to play in the NHL. I'm really looking forward to coaching someone like this.

— U.S. National Junior Team coach Ron Wilson on Auston Matthews, the projected No. 1 pick of the 2016 NHL Draft